Economic freedom around the world continues to increase, though there are notable cases of decline, including the United States.

James Gwartney and Robert Lawson will discuss those cases, describe trends in economic reform and present new findings on the effect of economic freedom and global poverty reduction. Simeon Djankov will explain how eliminating regulatory bureaucracy is impacting growth in developing countries.

He will present new research on the political and other characteristics of countries most likely to reform- Cato Institute

Simeon Djankov

Simeon Djankov is the chief economist for Finance and Private Sector in the World Bank group. He is best known as the creator of the Doing Business series.
In his 13 years at the World Bank, he has worked on regional trade agreements in North Africa, enterprise restructuring and privatization in transition economies, corporate governance in East Asia, and regulatory reforms around the world. Simeon was a principal author of the World Development Report 2002.

James Gwartney

James D. Gwartney holds the Gus A. Stavros Eminent Scholar Chair at Florida State University, where he directs the Stavros Center for the Advancement of Free Enterprise and Economic Education.
He is the coauthor of Economics: Private and Public Choice, a widely used principles of economics text that is now in its 12th edition. He is also the co-author of Common Sense Economics: What Everyone Should Know About Wealth and Prosperity, a primer on economics and personal finance designed for the interested lay person.
His current research focuses on the measurement and determination of factors that influence cross-country differences in income levels and growth rates. In this regard, he is the senior researcher responsible for the preparation of the annual report, Economic Freedom of the World, which provides information on the institutions and policies of 140 countries. This data set, published by a worldwide network of institutes in 70 countries, is widely used by scholars investigating topics ranging from economic growth to peaceful relations among nations.

Robert Lawson

Robert Lawson is Associate Professor in the Department of Finance at Auburn University where he is Co-Director of the Center for International Finance and Global Competitiveness and Director of the Economic Freedom Initiative.
Previously, he taught at Capital University, where he held the George H. Moor Chair, and Shawnee State University. Professor Lawson has numerous professional publications in journals such as Public Choice, Cato Journal, Kyklos, Journal of Labor Research, Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics, and European Journal of Political Economy.
He has served as president of the Association of Private Enterprise Education and is a member of the Mont Pelerin Society. He writes regularly for . He earned his B.S. in economics from the Honors Tutorial College at Ohio University and his M.S. and Ph.D. in economics from Florida State University.

Ian Vasquez

Ian Vasquez is the director of the Cato Institute's Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity. He is a member of the Mont Pelerin Society and a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Prior to joining the Cato Institute in 1992, Vasquez worked on inter-American issues at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and Caribbean/Latin American Action.
His articles have appeared in newspapers throughout the United States and Latin America including the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Times, the Miami Herald, the Financial Times, Investors' Business Daily, El Comercio (Peru), El Economista (Mexico), El Mercurio (Chile), and El Nuevo Herald (U.S.).
Vasquez regularly appears on CNBC, NBC, C-SPAN Washington Journal, CNN en Espanol, Telemundo, Univision, and Canadian Television, as well as NPR and Voice of America. He received his bachelor's degree from Northwestern University and his master's degree from the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University.